Marseille vs Sporting Lisbon

Stade Velodrome forms the backdrop as Olympique Marseille and Sporting Lisbon go head-to-head in a high-stakes Champions League Group D showdown.

Marseille’s bid to progress beyond the Champions League group phase for the first time since 2011/12 is on the line after last season’s Ligue 1 runners-up started their Group D journey with back-to-back defeats ‘to ni.’ After a 2-0 beating at Tottenham Hotspur on day one, ‘Les Olympiens’ fell to a 1-0 home loss to Eintracht Frankfurt and could lose their opening three Champions League matches for the third consecutive participation. That could prove easier said than done as the French heavyweights have suffered a whopping 16 defeats across their last 17 Champions League outings (W1), failing to get on the scoresheet on 11 occasions in the sequence! Yet an overwhelming 3-0 win at fellow Ligue 1 rivals Angers at the weekend may bolster the confidence in Igor Tudor’s camp.

As for Sporting Lisbon, a thumping 3-0 win at Frankfurt in their curtain-raising Group D fixture was no fluke as two stoppage-time goals fired last season’s Primeira Liga runners-up to a mammoth 2-0 home triumph over Tottenham on matchday two. Having won five of their last six matches in the Champions League group stage, Ruben Amorim’s men are on the verge of reaching the knockouts for the second season running. It will require another stellar performance from ‘Los Leoes,’ who were victorious on their most recent European visit to France, beating Lille 2-1 in 2010. However, the Portuguese giants have blown hot and cold on the road of late, winning two of their last four competitive away games while losing the other two.